Chapter 12

Dream a little dream...

Oric User Monthly

Meanwhile in England Allan Whitaker took over F.G.C.'s stocks and commenced
trading in July, 1988 as H.G.C. An Atmos could be had for Р€40, an Opelco drive
for Р€120-Р€140, and there was an abundance of software available. Allan mooted
for the first time the idea of a P.D. Library. And O.U.M. had in fact expanded
to seven pages a month.

Of considerable importance that autumn was the first chance ever for Oric
owners to meet one another at the Alternative Micro Show on the 12th November in
Birmingham. H.G.C. had a stand, and many names became real people. Over in
France Club Oric International released its fourth disc magazine and then
promptly renamed itself Club DiscOric. An all Oric show in Wrexham mooted by
Paul Kersey-Smith for December alas came to nothing. Maybe he should have
proposed Aylesbury!

Sadly, I.O.U.G. was brought to an end by Gary Ramsay with issue No. 23 in
February, 1989. The newsletter had become delayed more and more, and it was not
an unexpected demise. Fortunately Club DiscOric was just starting its own
printed magazine, and O.U.M. was improving by the month (it now had a cover for
the first time since issue 4, and a new section headed Dave's Data !), and to
its credit has published regularly every month since the first issue. It is one
of the most consistent performances of any Oric-related organisation. Mind you,
in March 1989 Robert Cook was writing:

"This is O.U.M.'s first nine page issue, I can't really see O.U.M.
expanding very much further.."

In March, 1989 Dave Utting bought
Cumana's remaining stock of disc interfaces, selling them for Р€49 and bringing
the blessings of a disc drive to more Oric owners. Over in France, a major Oric
retailer, Ordielec, negotiated to purchase substantial stocks of Oric bits from
the receiver, and even spoke of resurrecting the Telestrat if the demand was
there. Sensibly, perhaps, they thought better of the idea.

April, 1989 saw the Second Alternative Micro Show in London, and the first
English edition of Club DiscOric's journal.

It also, less attractively, saw the launch of Wolsoft by a gentleman in
Northampton, claiming to supply every software title ever made for the Oric. The
reality, I'm afraid, was that a substantial number were pirated copies, and once
this became known he rapidly disappeared from the scene.

Over in France Club DiscOric organised its first Meeting in Paris that
September. Meanwhile A.S.N. were still receiving enquiries about the Oric that
autumn. In November, 1989 the first edition of this little tome appeared at what
was to prove a decisive Third Alternative Micro Show. No less than three
dedicated Oric stands - Allan Whitaker with H.G.C. doing a roaring trade, Robert
Cook with O.U.M., and myself for Club DiscOric. And even W.E. software were
there, disgorging Atmos bits and pieces, software and books. Present on the
O.U.M. stand was one Dave Dick, enthusiastically expounding the virtues of the
Atmos to all willing to listen...

A letter from an Oric user to the old ITL Kathmill premises that month
resulted in the discovery of a batch of Byte Drive power supplies on a storeroom
shelf. The new occupiers, Astrosyn, kindly preserved them and sold them on to
Allan Whitaker.

On the 28th March, 1990 Club DiscOric renamed itself Club Europe Oric, and
registered as a legal charity in France. It also acquired a British 'agent',
subscribers reached around the 100 mark, and have remained there or thereabouts
ever since.

The P.D. Library became a fact in March, 1990, and rapidly expanded to 86
titles. Over 250 copies of programs were distributed in the first year. In May
the Sedoric Manual appeared in English, and a clear move towards disc drives
began to happen.

A big change came in June 1990. Robert Cook retired as editor of O.U.M., and
from the July issue (no. 35) Dave Dick took over with a readership of 56. His
energy was to carry O.U.M. forward at an accelerating pace, and to celebrate he
organised the first O.U.M. Meeting at Aylesbury on the 23rd June. Present
amongst the 30 there were both Paul Kaufman and Geoff Phillips, and from France
Vincent Talvas and Alain Weber.

In October 1990 O.U.M. overtook even Théoric to become the longest running
Oric magazine ever. At the fourth Alternative Micro Show in Stafford on the 10th
November, it was agreed that Allan Whitaker would close H.G.C., handing over
commercial software distribution to Dave Dick, and that he would start 'Oric
Enthusiasts', concentrating on shareware and writing a regular section in O.U.M.
At the same time Club Europe Oric took the decision to end its quarterly disc
and tape magazine, replacing it with a regular printed magazine in both French
and English editions and a software only disc or tape. One Laurent Chiacchiérini
took on the formidable task of producing the English edition, with notable
success in terms of quality and regularity of the magazine.

Saturday, 9th February, 1991 was a memorable day - the Second O.U.M. Meeting
took place on the weekend of the worst snowfall seen for years. Those who
struggled through saw the unveiling of 'Wordspeed', converted to Sedoric DOS
from the Byte Drive version by Dr. Ray McLoughlin. He it was who subsequently
tweaked Sedoric to give us full use of 3.5" drives with V2.0.

In April 1991 O.U.M. affiliated itself to the British Association of Computer
Clubs - and left when the organisation all but collapsed in November. The O.U.M.
meeting became an annual event with the third taking place on the 13th July,
1991; O.U.M. was now averaging over twenty pages per issue, with membership
approaching the 100 mark.

1992 proved to be a year of
consolidation, with new software, O.U.M. and C.E.O. continuing to expand in both
quantity and quality, and the annual O.U.M. Meeting on the 18th July attracting
no less than 50 visitors. In response to the increase in disc users, C.E.O.
dropped its quarterly cassettes. The Telestrat was beginning to make an impact
in Britain, with a small number of buyers queuing for their own machines. O.U.M.
celebrated its fifth birthday in August with a 42 page double issue.

The big story in France in October 1992 was the rebirth of the Oric! There
was the advert for the Oric shop at Surcouf, a permanaent PC show in Paris. A
range of nine PCs were promised:

"Almost 200,000 French users discovered computing through the
Oric-1 and then the Atmos. Today Oric is offering a range of PCs at
astonishing prices. Nine models are available and multimedia products should
be introduced soon."

They surely don't have Bruce Everiss working
for them? Yet even now the promised shop failed to open, and the owners of the
centre could only say that Oric were not able to supply their machines in time
for the show opening. We did learn however that the Oric name had been sold
several times since the receivership, but attempts to track down the current
owners have drawn a blank so far. There may yet be material for another chapter
in the next edition...

And so to date, with the tenth anniversary of the Oric-1's launch upon us,
the 64th issue of O.U.M., the 31st issue of C.E.O.mag and perhaps a time for
reflection....

We can dream of what might have been; the reality is we have witnessed a
roller-coaster ride for almost ten years. Oric itself lasted precisely two years
and six days, and in its reincarnated form just eighteen months, plus a further
year in receivership. Given that sorry track record, what went wrong?
Principally, I think, a heavy dose of over-optimism throughout, coupled with
numerous crass marketing and pricing decisions. The failure to ensure plenty of
good software early on was fatal. The computer itself could have been a
world-beater, and who knows what might have happened if Oric's 1985 plans had
come to fruition? But they didn't, or rather couldn't in the circumstances.

And yet still today the story cannot be concluded. The Oric name remains a
tradeable commodity... O.U.M. goes from trength to strength... Allan Whitaker
has every intention of maintaining Oric Enthusiasts for the benefit of us all...
Club Europe Oric fulfils an important role in France and in England... and those
now left enjoying their Oric computers as a pure hobby, or using them regularly
for word processing, are in the main unlikely to stop doing so in the
foreseeable future... The unattached have left; the attached are likely to
remain so, perpetuating the name of a brave venture launched in the heady days
of amateur enterprise, a venture which succumbed to the realities of a harsh
market-place.

Let us allow ourselves the hope that the Oric name will indeed never finally
die, but will live peacefully in retirement for many years to come.